Indian News Venture Republic TV to Launch on Hotstar

The news service Republic TV is joining the Indian streaming platform Hotstar.

In a first, Hotstar will open up its platform for a third-party content provider. Hotstar will also introduce “News” as a distinct category on the platform, adding to its current portfolio of TV shows, movies and sports from around the world.

Republic TV is one of India’s first major news service to launch in a digital era. It was founded by Arnab Goswami, who also serves as lead anchor.

Uday Shankar, the chairman and CEO of Star India, said, “Hotstar is the fastest growing digital platform in the world and the leading destination in India for curated, high-quality stories. Young India has embraced Hotstar. We believe that young, digitally savvy Indians are deeply interested in understanding their country and the world they live in. We are deeply committed to making sure that we continuously widen Hotstar’s offering, and the launch of Republic TV on Hotstar fills a big gap in our portfolio.”

Goswami said, “Hotstar is a compelling destination for content cutting across genres and age groups. We are confident of breaking the digital barrier and believe this is the first step as news produced in India goes digital and then global. We believe the coming together of these two exciting brands and services will take news to the 90 million plus viewers on Hotstar every month. You can now catch Republic TV on the move and on demand.”